This thesis is an ethnographic research on religious coexistence at the micro level in an ethnically and religiously plural suburban community in Madina, Accra, Ghana.
The interactions between Christians and Muslims are examined through a health-seeking prism in a Pentecostal health facility. This approach offers a new dynamic in the study of religious coexistence. The focus of this study is on everyday encounters between Muslim clients and patients on the one hand and their Christian health providers on the other hand, in the pursuit of healthcare for the former’s health challenges. Also, the study examines encounters between Muslim health workers and their Christian health managers.
The central question of this thesis is how an ethnographic study of health-seeking by Muslims in a Christian-managed health facility, Pentecost Hospital in Madina, can inform and contribute to academic discussions on the practice of everyday religious coexistence in a religiously and ethnically plural urban setting.
This research shows that religious coexistence in the Ghanaian context is layered. In this context, the practice of religious coexistence at the micro level involves a range of modalities deployed by both parties when they encounter each other. Deliberate distancing and compromise are the primary strategies employed in the practice of religious coexistence within the hospital setting.
The study shows that religious coexistence at the micro level involves intentionality.
On the broader level, this research contributes to the study of religious coexistence beyond the perspective of interfaith dialogue and from the fields of missiology and theology. This concerns the study of religious coexistence from day-to-day encounters and from a health-seeking perspective.
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